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SoHo Information
SoHo is a neighborhood in Manhattan that is bounded roughly by Houston Street
on the north, Lafayette Street on the east, Canal Street on the south, and Sixth
Avenue on the west.
The name is a play on that of the famous London shopping district, justifying
its name as being the area 'South of Houston (pronounced HOUSE-tin) Street. It
was the first such mildly amusing naming acronym that has been followed by other
new neighborhood descriptions such as TriBeCa and DUMBO. Before its incarnation
as a trendy locale, it was known as the Cast Iron District.
What became SoHo was to have been the locale of two enormous elevated highways,
comprising the two branches of the Lower Manhattan Expressway. The highway was
intended to create an automobile and truck through-route connecting the
Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges on the east with the Holland Tunnel on the
west.
The young historic preservation movement and architectural critics, stung by the destruction of Pennsylvania Station and the threat to other historic structures, challenged the plans because of the threatened loss of a huge quantity of 19th century cast-iron structures, which were not then highly valued by the general public or contemporary business community. When John V. Lindsay became mayor of New York City in 1966, his initial reaction was to try to push the expressways through with political spin, dubbing the project Lomex, depressing some of the proposed highway in residential areas and stressing the importance of the artery to the city. Nevertheless, the project was derailed and abandoned.
After abandonment of the highway scheme, the city was still left with a large number of historic buildings that were unattractive for the kinds of manufacturing and commerce that survived in the city in the 1970s. Many of these buildings, especially the upper stories which became known as lofts, attracted artists who valued the spaces for their large areas, large windows admitting natural light and dirt-cheap rents. Most of these spaces were also used illegally as living space, being neither zoned nor equipped for residential use, but this was ignored for a long period because the occupants were using space that would probably have been dormant or abandoned in the poor economic conditions of the era.
SoHo's boutiques and restaurants are clustered in the northern area of the neighborhood, along Broadway and Prince and Spring streets. The sidewalks in this area are often crowded with tourists and with artists selling paintings and other works, sometimes leaving no space for pedestrians to walk. The southern part of the neighborhood, along Grand Street and Canal Street, retains some of the feel of SoHo's earlier days and is noticeably more dilapidated and less crowded than the northern half. There are even a few small factories that have managed to remain. Canal Street at SoHo's south boundary contrasts with the former's posh shopping district in offering cheap imitation clothing and accessories.
Nearby neighborhoods include:
To the north: Greenwich Village and NoHo (there is some debate whether the latter is a real neighborhood)
To the east: Little Italy, NoLIta, and the Lower East Side
To the south: Chinatown